


Nothing's ever lost forever (it's just hidden)

by almostannette



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: M/M, i swear this was going to be sexy but the niffler ruined everything, newt's creatures look out for him ok?, silly fluffy AU, the events of the movie didn't happen, the niffler is female, this is my first fic ever please be kind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:42:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8717890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almostannette/pseuds/almostannette
Summary: Newt and Percival are in a relationship and are living together in New York. Percival knows about the exact contents of Newt's suitcase and doesn't object that Newt is breaking the law by possessing magical creatures, as long as the creatures stay in the suitcase. One day, a creature manages to escape...





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lincesque](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lincesque/gifts).



> Newt and Percival are living together; the movie events didn’t really happen. Just imagine a silly fluff AU where Grindelwald is somewhere in Europe doing stuff that dark lords with bad hair do (passive-aggressively owling Albus all the time, probably). Newt met Graves in NYC and they fell in love and Credence had the happy childhood we all know he deserves, went to Ilvermorny and is definitely not an obscurus, hence Grindles doesn't have a reason to go to the US. Yes, I say the Niffler is a female. And I don’t know how the Niffler ended up being the main character in this. No idea.
> 
> Title is taken from the lyrics to Amanda Palmer's song "Lost".
> 
> Dedicated to the lovely lincesque, who encouraged me to write and share this.
> 
> Translation into German available here:
> 
> http://www.fanfiktion.de/s/5877bfc60005d05e179aee5d/1/Nothing-039-s-ever-lost-forever-it-039-s-just-hidden-
> 
> Disclaimer: This is my first fic ever, so I'm super nervous about posting this. This is unbeta'd and English is not my native language, so all mistakes are mine. Obviously, I don't own anything.
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. If you want to fangirl about Fantastic Beasts or HP, I'm almost-annette on tumblr!

*** *** ***

The Niffler had been restless ever since Newt had moved in with Percival. There were so many valuables just outside of Newt’s suitcase and she could sense them all. The last time she’d felt such a temptation had been when Newt had first come to America. He’d walked alongside the front of a bank and all the jewelry and the gold had made her giddy with excitement and she’d tried as hard as she could to escape. However, Newt had been wary of the American legislation regarding the breeding and possession of magical beasts and had charmed his suitcase tightly shut.

Newt had by chance met that Auror when he got his wand permit for America. Shortly after that, when Newt had come down into the suitcase to look after them all – especially the occamies, since they were freshly hatched and needed their mum – he had smelled like the Auror, Graves, and had marks on his neck. He’d given her a few galleons, that she had quickly added to the stash in her nest, except for one, which she had slid into her pouch. She liked to keep a bit of gold on her body, she found its presence calming.

Soon after that, Newt had gone to Arizona and released Frank. She was unhappy about the fact that Frank was gone now, she had liked him a lot. As a parting gift, he had given her a few of his feathers because they were so shiny and she had put them close to the opal brooch Newt had given to Miss Leta many years ago. Miss Leta had in fact owled it back to Newt when she’d gotten engaged to an Italian Pureblood wizard, but the Niffler had sensed the jewelry in the envelope, recognized it for what it was and had taken the letter with the brooch before Newt could see it and become upset.

After he’d brought Frank home, Newt decided to stay in New York to begin the work on his manuscript. Reports about Grindelwald wreaking havoc in Europe became more and more frequent and Newt didn’t want to put his creatures in any more danger than necessary. Of course, there was also the added bonus of being able to see Percival Graves on a regular basis.

While he initially stayed in a hotel, after a few months of organizing his research notes and beginning to compile them into a manuscript, Newt moved into Percival’s apartment. Like Percival had said, they were seeing each other almost every night anyway – was the hotel really necessary?

The creatures were happy that Newt had found himself a mate. Newt always took care of them, now he deserved someone who’d take care of him. Apparently, Percival did such a good job, that Newt had forgotten to add the extra locking charm on his suitcase today. The Niffler seized her chance and squeezed herself through the lids of the suitcase.

Newt was distracted by his manuscript and didn’t pay the suitcase any attention. The Niffler turned away from Newt and went as quietly as she could out of the room. It was the spare room, which Percival had turned into an office for Newt to work in. There was nothing shiny in here, nothing interesting. The rest of the apartment on the other hand…

In the kitchen, she found delicately wrought silverware, which must have been charmed to never lose its shine and shoved as much as she could into her pouch. On to Percival’s (or rather, Percival and Newt’s) bedroom – Newt’s mate had a collection of cufflinks and tie pins to rival her own nest. She also found a signet ring, a few earrings and a pocket watch, all of which she stuffed into her pouch, to join the other shiny, beautiful things. She scrambled out of one drawer to look into the next one, when the drawer fell out of the wardrobe and fell to the floor with an awkwardly loud thud.

*** *** ***

Newt was just adding the final touches on a sketch of Dougal the Demiguise. He had ink on his fingers and on the left side of his mouth from when he’d been pondering over his drawing. It was evening now – he’d been working on it all day, and he finally thought that he’d gotten the snout right. Yes, this sketch would make it into the book. “Fantastic Beasts and where to find them” – one of Percy’s colleagues had come up with it, as a joke at first, but the title wouldn’t leave his mind and so Newt decided to keep it.

Suddenly, he heard something crash to the floor. The noise came from the bedroom. Instinctively, Newt’s eyes shot to his suitcase and he muttered a curse when he saw that one of the clasps was open. He grabbed his wand, shut the clasp and added his habitual locking charm. Then he ran into the bedroom.

When he entered the room and saw the chaos, another curse slipped out. “Niffler,” he concluded and started to pull out drawers, hoping to find the little creature still in the room. “Niffler,” he mumbled and shook his head.

In the second to last drawer, he found the little fugitive. He tried to grab her, but the Niffler scrambled away and ran towards the living room, Newt hot on her heels, knocking over furniture during his pursuit.

Too bad the Niffler was immune to Summoning Charms, otherwise a quick ‘Accio’ would have taken care of the whole situation. It was part of the creatures’ innate magic that protected them from being easily caught by wizards. Newt had studied it and it looked like several Shield Charms layered over top of each other – fascinating, really. Too bad it kept him from easily catching the Niffler, which now fled towards the kitchen and tried to hide under the kitchen table.

 “No, don’t…,” Newt cried and dove under the table in an attempt to grab the renegade Niffler.

*** *** ***

After an exhausting day at work, Percival Graves apparated from his office at MACUSA home into his living room. The moment he recovered from the unpleasant sensation of apparition, his mind started listing all the things that were not as they should be. Apartment in disarray, furniture overturned, sounds of a fight coming from the kitchen.

Everything inside him turned to ice when he heard Newt scream.

With reflexes that left no doubt that he was one of MACUSA’s best and brightest, he readied his wand and sped towards the kitchen, intent on neutralizing whomever dared to threaten his Newt.

He arrived in the kitchen and quickly surveyed the scene. There was no intruder. Newt was kneeling under the kitchen table, a small creature in one hand. His shirt-sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, he had a bit of ink in the corner of his mouth and he was slightly flushed, presumably from chasing the furry beast.

“Oh, hello, love?” Newt said and looked up at Percival from under the table. The creature also turned to look at him. Percival swore the thing tried to pout. Since its snout looked so much like a beak, the effect was rather ridiculous.

Percival slowly exhaled, adrenalin still coursing through his veins and he calmly asked: “What happened? Why does it look like our apartment’s been broken into?”

“You’ve met my Niffler, right?” Newt asks, while crawling out from under the table and straightening back up. “She likes shiny things. A lot. It’s in her nature, she means no harm.”

If Percival didn’t know any better, he’d think the Niffler was trying to make puppy eyes at him.

“ _This_ little creature is responsible for the state of the apartment?” Percival asked incredulously. Upon closer inspection, the Niffler looked absolutely harmless, like a cute, magical pet.

“Well, I might have done some damage as well, while trying to catch her…um…but mostly yes. Didn’t you pay attention at school? Oh, I forgot Ilvermorny doesn’t teach Care of Magical Creatures, so you wouldn’t know…”

Percival held up a hand. “Don’t start on how Hogwarts is the superior school. We’ve had this conversation before.”

In lieu of an answer, Newt picked the Niffler up and started to shake it, but it stubbornly held on to its belly with both front paws. Newt sighed and started to tickle it. Silverware, tie pins, cufflinks and a ring fell out of the creature’s pouch. So much in fact, that there was no way it could ever fit into the Niffler’s little pouch.

“Undetectable Extension Charm?” Percival asked with slight awe and completely missed the Niffler’s smug expression.

“Yes, sort of,” Newt answered happily. “The witch who developed the Undetectable Extension Charm in the 17th century was actually inspired by a Niffler that she caught stealing her jewelry.”

Newt furrowed his brow and gave the Niffler one last tickle. Percival’s pocket watch dropped out of its pouch and the creature desperately tried to hold onto it by the chain. Percival took his watch, but the Niffler tried to yank it back with its little paws. Percival narrowed his eyes at the Niffler and after a few seconds of him doing his best Bad Auror impression, the Niffler reluctantly let go.

Percival pocketed his watch, while Newt gently scolded the creature. The Niffler, to its credit, had the decency to look slightly embarrassed.

“How did it even get out of your suitcase?” he asked.

“The Niffler’s a she, not an it,” Newt replied and stroked the Niffler with the tip of his index finger.

“Well, how did she get out of the suitcase?” Percival repeated.

“I was working on a sketch for my book. I must have forgotten to renew the locking charm after it had worn off and she must have slipped out.”

“Newt,” Percival groaned. “This absolutely cannot happen. Possessing magical creatures is _illegal_ here in America. I shouldn’t even…imagine what would have happened if she’d escaped our apartment? If it hadn’t been the Niffler, but the Erumpent? Or, Merlin’s beard, the Obscurus?”

Newt blinked. “The Obscurus is completely harmless without its host, I’ve told you this before. And to be fair, I think I would have noticed if the _Erumpent_ had tried to get out of the suitcase.”

Percival shook his head. “Yes, but that’s not the point. You need to make sure this never happens again. I’m Director of Magical Security, Newt. According to the law, I ought to have arrested you the moment I found out what you carry around in your suitcase!”

“Percival,” Newt said with a shaking voice, sounding distressed. “These creatures aren’t dangerous, they don’t hurt anyone, you know that. Percival…,” he trailed off.

Whenever Newt said his name, any resolve Percival might have had in the beginning would crumble away to nothing. Percival sighed, his expression softened and he pulled Newt in for a kiss. Only for a moment, though, because Newt was still holding the Niffler on his arm, and it was struggling to get away again. Newt held on to it and laughed.

He took Newt’s other hand, the one not holding the Niffler, and gave it a quick squeeze.

“Hey, you know I won’t say anything as long as they stay in the suitcase. I’d never endanger your creatures, I know how much they mean to you.”

Newt smiled at him and was so beautiful, Percival was mesmerized for a moment and contemplated how he ever got so lucky.

*** *** ***

While Percival wandlessly cast spells to repair the damage that the Niffler had done to their apartment, Newt disappeared into his suitcase and took the Niffler back to her nest.

Late at night, Newt and his mate were lying in their newly repaired bedroom, sleeping in each other’s arms with their legs tangled together.

At the same time, way down in the depths of Newt’s suitcase, the Niffler reached a paw into her pouch and pulled a pair of cufflinks out of it. She had taken them from Newt’s mate when the two of them had been kissing and had forgotten all about her.

Pleased with herself, she hid them behind her stash of galleons and went to sleep.

 


End file.
